US Online Gaming Forum Expects Very Slow Regulated Gaming Growth

At a recent Online Gaming USA meeting in Atlantic City the growth and expected growth of regulated internet gambling was discussed, and many observers are feeling a little smug right now in that as they predicted, revenues created from the new ventures in the 3 states that have legalized online gambling to date, are a lot lower than expected. Online gaming went live just 6 months ago and got off to a slow start, with picking up speed seemingly somewhat of a problem. Depositing funds have been a major issue with many US credit card issuers blocking transactions to the gambling sites of Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey and the fact is that these depositing problems do not seem like going away anytime soon.

Initial estimations by H2 Gambling Capital placed an estimate of US online gambling generating revenues of $7.7 Billion by the year 2017, and Morgan Stanley estimated the figure to be $8 Billion by 2020, however these numbers look rather optimistic and a study by the respected Deutsche Bank analyst Andrew Zarnett paints a very different picture. Zarnett has offered a realistic estimate of just $2.2 Billion by 2020, stating that the figure may even be lower than that, believing that due to the fragmented approach being taken in the US and the state by state regulatory process being a slow one, then extremely slow growth can be expected. This figure does of course depend on other states regulating online gambling, and there’s nothing looking likely in 2014 with maybe California and Pennsylvania making moves next year. That could be followed by New York and Florida in 2016, but again nothing is certain and it may be the case that no states regulate online gambling in the near future.

Many US casino and poker players enjoy their play in the many offshore regulated gaming sites, with one of the most popular being that of Bovada who cater for players from most states and offer many promotions.